Vehicle-engine radiator shutter



Jan. 9, 1934. E. s. PETERSEN VEHICLE ENGINE RADIATOR SHUTTER Filed June 7, 1950 I Jaye/*6? i eiensen Patented Jan. 9, 1934 1,943,245 VEHICLE-ENGINE RADIATOR SHUTTER Edgar G. Petersen, Chicago,

Winterfront Company,

tion of Delaware Ill., assignor to Pines Chicago, Ill., a corpora- Application June 7, 1930. Serial No. 459,665

7 Claims.

My invention relates to shutter structures such as are used in connection with the radiators of vehicle-engines, the object of the present invention being to provide shutters which are so conformed, and so related to each other, that the air which cools the circulating liquid of the engine cooling system will not create a disagreeable whistling noise while passing from between the shutters into the air passages of the radiator 10 core.

In accordance with approved and common practice, automobile engines are located within a hooded compartment having an engine radiator as its front wall,-this radiator comprising a 13: core having a multiplicity of fore and aft passages through which air flows under the influence of the engine fan aided by the inertia of the air itself when the vehicle is traveling rapidly in the forward direction. It is also approved and common practice to locate a plurality of shutters in front of the radiator core; these shutters being either thermostatically or manually controlled; each shutter being pivoted for movement on an axis located at one of its longitudinal margins;

23 the several shutter axes being parallel to each other and occupying a plane spaced from the front face of the radiator core; the shutters when in closed positions entirely or substantially preventing the flow of air through the radiator core but being adapted to swing to open positions where they do not substantially restrict the flow of air through the radiator core; the free or unpivoted longitudinal margins of the shutters lying adjacent to the front face of the radiator core when said shutters are in open position.

Ever since shutters were first used in connection with automobile radiators, there has been a tendency for the air which passes from between the trailing edges of the shutters to the radiator core to set up a whistling noise. This tendency is most pronounced as the shutters begin to move from their closed to their open positions, but may exist in some degree at almost any open position of the shutters.

The present invention provides a shutter structure wherein the several shutters are so conformed, and so related to each other that when the shutters are disposed in any of their open or partially open positions, air is passed from between the shutters into the passages of the radiator core without producing the disagreeable whistling noise before mentioned.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating my invention Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of one style of built-in radiator shutter equipment to which the improvements of the present invention may be applied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a broken perspective of one of the slats or shutters; and

Fig. 4 is a greatly enlarged cross sectional view of one of the said shutters or slats.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing, 10 indicates what may be regarded as the core of a conventional radiator having filling neck 11, shell 12 and other parts and adjuncts with which this invention is not particularly concerned and which are not illustrated in the drawing. Portions of the chassis frame of the vehicle to which the radiator is applied and by which it is supported in any suitable manner, are shown at 13.

The radiator core 10, as is customary, is provided with a multiplicity of fore and aft passages for the air which cools the liquid which is circulated through the radiator core in a well known manner. The core 19, as is customary in American automobiles, is provided with a flat front face 14 located in the vertical plane, the fore and aft air passages of the core being disposed at right angles to this face.

Located in front of the radiator core 10 and preferably disposed with their longitudinal margins in the vertical plane, is a plurality of shutters 15, which as is customary, are supported and journalled by a frame which for the most part is enclosed and concealed by the radiator shell 12. In the particular installation shown in Fig. 1 the only part of the shutter frame which is visible is that member indicated at 16; reference numeral 17 indicating a depending apron which sometimes, as shown, is conformed to give the impression to the casual observer that the closed shutters extend below the frame element 16.

Radiator shutter frames, the approved manner of mounting shutters in said frames, and suitable devices for mounting the shutter frame upon a radiator so that it will entirely or for the most part be concealed by the shell of the radiator, are very well known in the art to which my invention relates and need not be here illustratcd or discussed at length. Suitable instrumentalities for connecting the shutters for simultaneous operation, either under the influence of a thermostat responsive to the temperature of the engine, or by manual means, are also'well known in this art and need not be illustrated or discussed at length herein,-the present invention being particularly concerned with the configuration of the shutters per se and with the relation of the shutters to each other.

The body portion of each shutter is preferably formed from sheet steel and is conformed to provide a closure portion A, a rolled longitudinal edge B, a hollow shoulder C and a free or trailing edge D. If desired, the closure portion A of each shutter may be provided with a longitudinal bead a to lend rigidity to the shutter and in some cases, as is exemplified by the structure shown in Fig. l, to give the impression that each shutter is composed of two slats.

Formed integral with one end of each shutter, preferably the upper end, is an apertured lug or arm E which will be attached in a well known manner to an operating bar common to all of the shutters. Pressed into the extremities of the rolled edge B are suitable trunnions 18 by which the shutters may be pivotally mounted in their frame.

The shutters are mounted in a suitable frame, by means of the trunnions 18-18, with the axes of the several shutters all located in a vertical plane spaced from and parallel to the front face of the core 14. In the closed position of the shutters, the hollow shoulder C of each shutter (except, of course, the one to the extreme left), embraces the pivoted rolled edge B of an adjacent shutter. With the shutters in their closed positions, as shown by full lines in Fig. 2, the portions A of the individual shutters, which I have elected to call closure portions, together constitute a complete closure, preventing the passage of air through the radiator core.

The dotted lines in Fig. 2 indicate the extreme open positions to which the shutters may be swung when it is proper that air should flow substantially unrestrictedly through the radiator c'ore,this movement of the shutters from their closed positions to their open positions being a movement in unison, preferably being effected thermostatically, although it may, of course, be acomplished manually from the dash of the automobile in a well known manner.

Attention is particularly directed to the fact that the free or trailing longitudinal margin D of each shutter is disposed at right angles to the plane occupied by the closure portion A of that shutter (bead a being disregarded in locating the plane of the closure portion A). Attention is also directed to the fact that the inner surface d of the free longitudinal edge of the shutter is .a plane surface which, in the open position of the shutter, is disposed at an obtuse angle to the front face of the radiator core. The outer surface dd of the same edge is also a plane surface, this being the surface which eliminates whistling at partially open shutter positions. The several shutters, when in their open positions, constitute in effect a plurality of air channels 19 through which air delivered to the front face of the radiator core must pass,-each of these channels being adapted initially to direct air rearwardly to the radiator core along horizontal lines having acute angularity with the front face of the radiator core, but being adapted to change the direction of such air and. deliver it to the radiator core along horizontal lines having obtuse angularity with the said face of the radiator core.

The great advantage of the present invention is most apparent when the velocity of air flow through the shutters is high and theshutte-rs are in only slightly open position, i. e., about onefourth open or even less. Under these conditions, all prior art radiator shutters with which I am familiar emit a very pronounced and disagreeable whistling noise,a noise which is eliminated by the present invention because the air which expands after passing between the contiguous edges of the partially open shutters is kept directed rearwardly by the surfaces dd and is not given an opportimity to shoot past any trailing shutter edge until such expansion has ceased or materially ceased.

While I have illustrated and described the pre ferred embodiment of my invention, it is apparent that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and I do not wish to be limited in any particular.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A vehicle shutter equipment comprising a plurality of pivoted shutters, each having a round beaded longitudinal edge, each shutter cooperating with the other to constitute a variable obstruction to the flow of engine cooling air, each of said shutters comprising a closure portion, an adjacent portion extending obliquely rearwardly therefrom and a contiguous free edge portion directed rearwardly and substantially at right angles to the plane of the closure portion.

2. A vehicle shutter equipment comprising a plurality of shutters, each pivoted for movement around an axis at one of its longitudinal edges, each shutter cooperating with the other to constitute a variable obstruction to the flow of engine cooling air, each of said shutters comprising a closure portion, an adjacent portion extending obliquely rearwardly therefrom, and a relatively wide free edge portion directed rearwardly and substantially at right angles to the plane of the closure portion, said portions being connected together by curved surfaces.

3. A vehicle radiator shutter equipment comprising a plurality of shutters adapted to be located ahead of the core of a radiator, each shutter being pivoted for movement, each of said shutters comprising a closure portion, an adjacent portion extending obliquely rearwardly therefrom, and a free edge portion directed rearwardly and substantially at right angles to the plane of the closure portion, said portions being connected together by curved surfaces.

4. A radiator shutter adapted to control the supply of air to a vehicle-engine radiator including a core having a flat front face and a plurality of fore and aft air passages, comprising a plurali- H30 ty of shutters, each pivoted for movement on an axis located at one of its longitudinal margins, the axes of the several shutters being located in a plane forward of and parallel with the front face of the radiator core, each shutter comprising a closure portion which, in the closed position of the shutter, occupies a plane substantially parallel with the front face of the radiator core, the free longitudinal edge portion of each shutter being directed rearwardly and substantially at right angles to the plane occupied by its closure portion, said edge portion and closure portion being connected by an intermediate portion oblique to both closure and free edge portions and each such free longitudinalv edge portion being adapted, in the full open position of the shutter, to lie adjacent to the radiator core with its salient face having obtuse angularity with the face of the core.

5. A radiator shutter adapted to control the supply of air to a vehicle-engine radiator core having a substantially flat front face, comprising a plurality of pivoted shutters mounted in front of said core, each of said shutters being mounted for movement around an axis at one of its longitudinal margins, each shutter comprising a closure portion and a free edge portion directed rearwardly and substantially at right angles to the plane occupied by the closure portion, said edge portion and closure portion being connected by an intermediate portion oblique to both closure and free edge portions, the salient faces of said free edge portions being disposed at obtuse angularity with the front face of the radiator core when the shutters are swung to full open positions with their free longitudinal margins adjacent said core.

6. A radiator shutter adapted to control the supply of air to a vehicle-engine radiator having a core provided with a fiat front face, comprising a plurality of shutters disposed in front of said core, each of said shutters being adapted to turn on an axis at one of its longitudinal margins, each shutter having a closure portion and a free edge portion directed rearwardly and substantially at right angles to the plane of the closure portion, said closure portions, and an intermediate portion oblique to said closure portion and free edge portion integrally connecting said portions in the closed positions of the shutters, occupying the same plane, the inner faces of said closure portions being disposed with acute angularity to the front face of the core, and the inner faces of said free edge portions being disposed with obtuse angularity to the face of the core, when the shutters are in full open positions.

7. A vehicle shutter equipment comprising a plurality of pivoted shutters, each having a round beaded longitudinal edge and each cooperating With another to constitute a variable obstruction to the flow of engine cooling air, each of said shutters comprising a closure portion, and adjacent portion extending obliquely rearwardly therefrom, and a free edge portion contiguous with the last mentioned portion and directed rearwardly and at an angle to the plane of said closure portion.

EDGAR G. PETERSEN. 

